Journey of Hope 2016 | Page 29

first , Afghan couple with both the husband and wife as graduates of Afghan high school . It ’ s really a very important event in the history of Afghanistan . My mom was one of the first six girls who graduated from high school for the first time .
Hannah : How did your mother and father meet ?
Nasrine : Well , my mom was at that time in 10th or 11th grade and had problems in sciences – calculus , algebra , and physics — and my dad ’ s Ph . D . was in physics and mathematics . So her brothers hired him to be her private tutor . And the way she reported it , they fell in love the first night . So that is kind of history . Yeah .
So my house as a result of these two marrying , we had the most educated of Kabul come to our house . They were not necessarily very wealthy people , but they were the most educated . So it was like a grandiose salon of beautiful ideas , of books , of progress . All these things that in the early 1950s , after the Second World War coming into being in the world . Extremely exciting . And with it , of course , all these ideals and aspirations for Afghanistan . My father was a teacher of course , a professor , and my mom was the first female member of parliament and the first director of the literacy program in Afghanistan . Nineteen seventy , I think she was the first director of it in the Ministry of Education . having something in the law and realizing actually that law ? And so , I thought well one of the ways is for a grownup to actually learn how to read and write . So that they can not only read the constitution and become aware of their own rights , but that they could also help their children with their schooling . Without education you cannot make laws realized . You cannot make laws become reality of daily life . And so I couldn ’ t do any other education , and besides the largest group , is the adults that are decision makers and they were 90 percent of women and 85 percent of men were illiterate . And to this day it ’ s almost like that , but it ’ s getting better . So that ’ s why I did the couples . I thought if I do just women , most of the men are illiterate too . So in the household it may not be such an effective way . And so I said if I do only the husbands then the women will continue to be bypassed . So why not bring both of them ? And I knew , another thing , that most Afghan men are not against education with their wives or their daughters or their children . And we ’ ve never had any problems with them .
Hannah : How do you think the classes have changed the husbands and wives , and their relationships ?
Nasrine : The couples say it , they say ‘ before we used to fight . And now we don ’ t have time to fight . We come home and we have to do our homework .’ Because you know what we do ? We give only one textbook per couple . So they have to work with each other in order to finish their homework . And they also say that they know that fighting and quarrelling is not the way to solve a problem . Talking and writing are the way to go , and reading about something . It has really affected them very positively . They don ’ t quarrel . They talk to each other and they develop better interests .
Hannah : Are there any challenges that are particularly difficult ?
Nasrine : The other challenge is that we don ’ t have [ a special needs ] education segment . I ’ m sure among some of these people are dyslexic . You know they have dyslexia . Some don ’ t hear very well and some cannot see very well . But these people are so afraid
“ Without education you cannot make laws realized . You cannot make laws become reality of daily life .”
Hannah : How did your upbringing impact your work later in life ?
Nasrine : So when we were successful in putting the equality clause in article 22 of the constitution in 2003 and 2004 , then I kind of sat back and said ‘ OK Nasrine . You got the rights enshrined in the constitution . Now how do you make it happen ? How do you make it part and parcel of life ?’ Do you know , there is a big difference between
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